Method and system for computer-implemented trading of new issue debt securities

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method and system for trading of debt securities (bonds), where multiple dealers participate and compete on a single platform ( 100 ). Dealers and investors have respective interfaces ( 250, 230 ) for communicating. In one aspect, dealers announce new debt security issues ( 400 ), the investors communicate an indication of interest (IOI) ( 500 ) in purchasing the new debt security issues, and the issues are allocated to the investors. In another aspect, issues from multiple dealers are made available to investors on a secondary trading market in a searchable format ( 1000 ). In response to price inquiries sent by the investors ( 1200 ), the dealers provide offers ( 1300 ) which are briefly held and released to the investor concurrently to allow the investor to consider all offers together. In another aspect, the dealers post bid and offer terms for actively traded issues ( 1700 ) that are updated in real-time to avoid the need for the inquiry procedure.

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patentapplication No. 60/257,807, filed Dec. 22, 2000, and incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates generally to a computer-implemented methodand a system for enabling investors to buy new issue debt securities,also known as bonds, from multiple dealers.

[0003] Conventionally, bond trading has been performed using threedifferent methods. First, the vast majority (about 99.75%) of bondtrading occurs with voice-based discovery and trading, also known as anauction system. With this approach, dealers and investors gather in onelocation to vocally offer and accept various prices and terms fordifferent bonds. Multiple investors, typically institutional investors,can select a bid from competing dealers. This process suffers obviousdisadvantages in that the number of investors and dealers that can beinvolved is limited. Additionally, a clerk must manually enterinformation regarding the trades after the fact, which is an error-proneprocedure.

[0004] Second, a cross-matching system has been used, where anonymousbuy and sell offers that are entered are matched by a broker. Thisapproach has the disadvantage that the investors and dealers cannotchoose to deal with a specific known party. For example, an investor mayprefer to buy from a specific dealer who has successfully filled ordersin the past, or where some other pre-established relationship has beendeveloped. Similarly, a dealer may prefer to sell to specific investors,e.g., who have been credit-worthy. Moreover, such transactions aretypically conducted by telephone, and thus are time consuming andinefficient.

[0005] Third, multiple single-dealer systems have been used, where aninvestor is required to execute an order with a specific dealer ordealers. However, this requires the investor to contact each dealer,typically by telephone, to determine what inventory and terms are beingoffered. This is also time consuming and inefficient. Moreover, theterms that are offered can change from minute to minute, and the latestinformation may not be offered to all investors on an equal basis.

[0006] Moreover, with the above approaches, access to new debt securityissues by the investors is not uniform since, again, information istypically passed by a word of mouth.

[0007] In a related development, various computer-based systems havebeen developed for the buying and selling of equity securities, such asstocks. Many of these systems are targeted to the individual investorwho accesses the system via an Internet web browser. Other systems,which are used by investment houses and serious individual investorssuch as day traders, use private networks to communicate with marketmakers, who are typically located at the trading floors of the majorstock exchanges. Moreover, some private networks allow trading forindividual dealers.

[0008] However, the above-mentioned systems do not provide acomprehensive solution for trading debt securities. Accordingly, thereis a need for a computer-based method and system for the buying andselling of debt securities which addresses the above and other issues.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention provides a computer-implemented system fortrading of debt securities, including new issues and secondary marketissues.

[0010] In accordance with the invention, multi-dealer inventory,trading, research and new issue features may be provided to investorsfor credit markets using a network. The network may employ a secureInternet application, for instance. All types of debt security productsmay be accommodated, including, without limitation, high-grade bonds,high-yield bonds, emerging market bonds, agency bonds, municipal bonds,and European fixed-income products, including Eurobonds, Pfandbrief (aGerman security), European high-yield bonds, and European-dominatedemerging markets bonds. Moreover, the invention can be adapted for usewith future debt security products.

[0011] The invention brings together the capabilities and resources of anumber of different debt security broker-dealers, and allow investors topurchase the same securities from different dealers. Both new issues(primary market trading) and secondary market trading can beaccommodated.

[0012] The invention provides the following advantages oversingle-dealer systems: (a) Consolidates market information in a singlelocation to improve transparency, enhances liquidity by combiningmarket-making commitments, enables the delivery of more new issues byaggregating market share, and combines product/sector niches and areasof expertise; (b) increases competition by enabling all dealers torespond simultaneously to inquiries; and (c) improves efficiency byenabling easy comparison and combining of research ideas and pricing,and by providing a consistent format that speeds information gathering.

[0013] Moreover, the invention provides the following advantages overcross-matching systems: (a) provides dealer capital that ensuresliquidity from day one/client one by having each dealer maintain aminimum number of issues at all times (e.g., 200 issues), and bycombining market share; (b) gives dealers incentives to continue to addvalue to clients via research and new issue allocations, and byproviding incentives for dealers to provide liquidity and salescoverage; (c) enables dealer partners to clear and settle trades, suchthat the trades are handled by stable back offices that the buyer knowsand trusts, so there is no need for the introduction of new startupsettlement agents; and (d) supports a business model with noper-transaction commission or fees.

[0014] The invention also streamlines all aspects of secondary trading.In particular, online, sortable cross-dealer research is provided toenhance idea generation, and dealers can post their inventory online andrespond simultaneously to inquiries to speed price discovery. Investorscommunicate directly with traders (dealers) online to streamline thenegotiation process. The investor can define the benchmark for treasurycrossing, which relates to an exchange of securities, to eliminateconfusion and price disputes. Furthermore, online, standardizedresponses and confirmations are provided to promote straight-throughprocessing and improve control process.

[0015] The invention provides fast, reliable technology, including ascalable architecture that maximizes capacity, hot standbys thatminimize the risk of downtime, and rapid system response time.

[0016] The invention further provides a middle and back office thatenables dealer partners to handle all trade support and settlement,allows independent cross-dealer (i.e., multi-dealer) position valuation,and provides consistent, exportable confirmations, e.g., usingExtensible Markup Language (XML).

[0017] The invention enable an easy setup via a download from the web,provide security, e.g., using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) anddual-key encryption, provide established backup and recovery procedures,and include third party data services (e.g., information from MoneyLine™or other financial news services). The invention may also provide asingle account agreement that covers trading with all broker-dealer andinvestor partners (i.e., any partner trading with any other partner).

[0018] The invention may be web-implemented, and provide an on-screenuser interface at the broker-dealer side and at the investor side thatfacilitates the use of the above features.

[0019] In particular, a method for providing computer-implementedtrading for debt securities includes the step of providing respectivecomputer-generated interfaces for a plurality of dealers and a pluralityof investors. A network enables messages to be exchanged between thedealer interfaces and the investor interfaces. Additionally, the dealersare enabled to communicate announcements of new debt security issues tothe investors via the investor interfaces so that each investor canaccess new debt security issues from multiple dealers via his or herrespective investor interface. The investors are enabled to submitrespective indications of interest in purchasing the new debt securityissues to selected ones of the dealers via the selected dealers'respective interfaces. The dealers then allocate the debt securityissues to the investors in accordance with their respective indicationsof interest. Advantageously, the investor can access the inventory ofmultiple dealers via a common platform. Moreover, the process ofgathering indications of interest is automated for the dealers.

[0020] A corresponding apparatus is also presented, along with acomputer program product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is made tothe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

[0022]FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of a multi-featured platform;

[0023]FIG. 2 illustrates a high level system diagram;

[0024]FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed system diagram;

[0025] FIGS. 4-9 are user interfaces for primary market (new issue)trading of debt securities;

[0026]FIG. 4 shows an interface that provides an investor with acalendar/inventory of new issues from multiple dealers;

[0027]FIG. 5 shows an interface that provides an investor with detailsof a particular issue, and allows the investor to create an indicationof interest, for a new issue;

[0028]FIG. 6 shows an interface that provides a notice to an investorwhen creating an indication of interest;

[0029]FIG. 7 shows an interface that allows an investor to monitor thereal-time status of its IOIs;

[0030]FIG. 8 shows an interface that displays final pricing informationto an investor;

[0031]FIG. 9 shows an interface that displays an indication history toan investor;

[0032] FIGS. 10-18 are user interfaces for secondary market trading ofdebt securities in accordance with the present invention;

[0033]FIG. 10 shows an interface that allows an investor to selectivelyview an available inventory of security issues;

[0034]FIG. 11 shows an interface that allows an investor to view detailsof a selected issue;

[0035]FIG. 12 shows an interface that allows an investor to enter aninquiry for a selected issue;

[0036]FIG. 13 shows an interface that allows a dealer to view andrespond to an investor's inquiry;

[0037]FIG. 14 shows an interface that allows an investor to viewmultiple dealer responses to the investor's inquiry, and accept an offeror provide a counteroffer;

[0038]FIG. 15 shows an interface that allows an investor to confirm thedetails of a trade and to enter spot details;

[0039]FIG. 16 shows an interface that confirms the price and spotdetails of a trade;

[0040]FIG. 17 shows an interface that allows an investor to viewactively traded issues; and

[0041]FIG. 18 shows an interface that allows an investor to compare thebid and offer of different dealers for an actively traded issue, and toenter a buy order.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0042] The preferred embodiments of the invention are now described withreference to the drawings in the figures.

[0043] The on-screen interfaces disclosed herein may use the followingacronyms and abbreviations:

[0044] Alloc—Allocation

[0045] An Dt—Announcement Date

[0046] AON—All Or None

[0047] ASC—Awaiting Spot Confirmation

[0048] BM—Benchmark

[0049] bps—Basis points

[0050] B/S—Buy/Sell

[0051] Ccy—Currency

[0052] Cpn—Coupon

[0053] Cross—Crossing

[0054] CUSIP—Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures

[0055] Dlr—Dealer

[0056] Flg—Flag

[0057] GF—Good For

[0058] IOI—Indication of Interest

[0059] LAN—Local Area Network

[0060] LDAP—Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

[0061] M—thousand

[0062] MF—Minimum Fill

[0063] Mgr—Manager

[0064] Mgmt—Management

[0065] mm—Thousands

[0066] Mty—Maturity

[0067] Msc—Miscellaneous

[0068] MW—Make Whole call

[0069] NA—Not Available

[0070] NM—No Minimum

[0071] Prc Dt—Price or Pricing Date

[0072] QA—Quality Assurance

[0073] Req—Required

[0074] Resp—Response

[0075] SD—Single Dealer

[0076] Secto—Sector

[0077] S&P—Standard and Poor's

[0078] Sprd—Spread

[0079] Sr Bd—Senior Bond

[0080] Sr Nt—Senior Note

[0081] Subj—Subject

[0082] Sz—Size

[0083] T—Trade Date

[0084] Tkr—Ticker

[0085] TSY—Treasury

[0086] Updt—Update

[0087] USD—United States Dollars

[0088] UST—United States Treasury

[0089] Vol.—Volume

[0090] YTM—Yield to Maturity

[0091]FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of a multi-featured platform inaccordance with the present invention. Generally, the platform 100provides computer-implemented trading 112, syndication 114 and researchand marketing information 116 functions for a number of investor clients110 and dealers 120. In one business implementation of the invention,the investors are clients of the organization that runs the platform,while the dealers have partnership arrangements with the organization.The trading functions 112 include providing an inventory of availablesecurity issues (bonds), pricing of the issues, and a history oftransactions for record-keeping purposes. The trading functions 112 alsoenable investors to submit inquiries for, and make trades in, secondarymarket issues.

[0092] Syndication generally refers to the process of having a group ofbanks acting together, temporarily, to underwrite a new issue of bonds.Specifically, the syndication functions 114 include providing a calendarof new issues, including the managers of the issue, details of theissue, such as type of issue, term, coupon, rating, and so forth, theannouncement date, and the pricing date. The syndication functions 114may also include links to on-line prospectuses for the issues, roadshows(marketing presentations). The syndication functions 114 also allowinvestors to submit indications of interest in the new issues to allowthe underwriters/dealers to determine the demand for the issue and set aprice. Finally, orders for the new issues may be placed by investors.

[0093] The research and marketing information 116 functions may includeon-line research reports regarding the issues, announcements, and otherdata and analytics, which are tools for analyzing issues.

[0094]FIG. 2 illustrates a high level system diagram in accordance withthe present invention. Here, a data center 220 includes a number ofcentralized computing resources for storing, processing and routing databetween the investors' computers 230 and the dealers computers.Specifically, the data center 220 and computers 230, 250 may employ anyknown type of computing hardware and software that should be apparent tothose skilled in the art for carrying out the functions describedherein. The investor and dealer computers 230, 250 may be personalcomputers or workstations, for example, while the data center 220 mayemploy known servers, backup storage devices, network communicationsdevices and so forth (see FIG. 3 for further details). Generally, anetworked application may be written using any available programminglanguage for running at the data center 220, and at the computers 230,250. The data center 220 provides a central clearinghouse for thedealers and investors, and is typically located remotely. A systemadministrator 210 oversees and maintains the data center 220.

[0095] A computer program product such as an optical or magnetic datastorage device may be provided that includes software for programmingthe computers to perform the desired functions. The product may includea computer usable medium having computer readable program code meansembodied therein for providing the desired functions.

[0096] In one possible implementation, the investors 230 communicatewith the data center 220 via a secure Internet network 240. The dealers250 may communicate with the data center 220 via secure leased lines260. Of course, other variations are possible, but the implementationshown is believed to be appropriate for situations where the number ofdealers 250 is relatively small, and the number of investors 230 isrelatively large.

[0097]FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed system diagram in accordancewith the present invention. The figure illustrates a productionenvironment. The system includes a management connection function 310,including a MarketAxess function, which has tools for monitoring andmaintaining the system. The function 310 communicates with a generalmanagement LAN 312 in a production network 309 via respective managementconnections and firewalls. A backup server 311 may be provided forstoring data from the MarketAxess function.

[0098] A disk array 313 provides data storage for a transaction andreference database server 315. This server records details of alltransactions between investors and dealers, as well as referenceinformation for the securities. For example, the server may be a Sun 4CPU 450 MHz with 2×18 GB internal storage. The general management LAN312 is also accessed by a server 317, such as the Pivotal™ accountingand reference server.

[0099] A staging network 330 includes a datable server 332, a databasestaging LAN 334, servers 336, a staging LAN 337, such as the Rendezvous(RV) made by Tibco, and dealer gateways and distribution servers 338.The database staging LAN 334 communicates with the general managementLAN 312, while the dealer gateways and distribution servers 338communicate with the internal distribution LAN 324.

[0100] An arrangement for external connectivity 340 is also provided,which communicates wit the production network 309 via the internaldistribution LAN 324. The internal distribution LAN 324 and generalmanagement LAN 312 communicate via dealer gateways and distributiongateways 322, an RV LAN 318, servers 316, and a database LAN 314. Theexternal connectivity 340 includes equipment for communicating with thedealers and the investors. The IXNet network 341 in the externalconnectivity section 340 indicates an example of a private network usedto communicate with the dealers. The Internet 240 communicates with theinvestors 230, and receives reference data source information.

[0101] A quality assurance (QA) function 360 may also be provided formonitoring quality in the other devices. This function 360 includes adatabase server 362, servers 364, and dealer gateways and distributionservers 366.

[0102] FIGS. 4-9 are user interfaces for primary market (new issue)trading of debt securities in accordance with the present invention.

[0103]FIG. 4 shows an interface 400 that provides an investor with acalendar/inventory of new issues from multiple dealers. The interfaceshows a cross-dealer new issue calendar, which lists the availableissues from the different dealers. Advantageously, the investor hasimmediate access to a multi-dealer inventory of new issues. Moreover,the issues may be sorted base on various criteria, such as issue name,manager, announcement or pricing date, and so forth. The investor thusdoes not have to consult each manager separately to see what issues theyhave. Note that the button “calendar” has been activated to provide thedisplay, as designated by the right arrow (

). This notation will be used in other figures as well to indicate abutton that has been selected.

[0104] New issues are placed on the calendar (e.g., announced) prior tothe time they are priced. For each issue, the issue name is given (e.g.,Acme Widgets Corp.), along with the size of the issue (in thousands ofdollars), and details regarding the issue (e.g., type of note, term,rating, and so forth). Moreover, one or more lead managers aredesignated, discussed further below. Here, the lead managers are BSC(Bear Stearns Corp.) and JPM (J.P. Morgan Chase). The otherabbreviations and acronyms under “Lead managers” denote other examplesof financial services organizations. The asterisk next to the manager'sname indicates they are available to receive IOIs via the system.

[0105] The status or state of the issue is also indicated by thecalendar. Generally, an issue is announced, then priced, then launched,then settled. “Announced” indicates that details of the issue have beenmade available to investors via the system. “Priced” indicates apreliminary price has been established for the issue based on the levelof interest shown by the investors following the announcement.“Launched” indicates the issue is currently being distributed. “Settled”indicates the transactions for the issue are completed. “Subject”indicates the information regarding the issue is subject to change. Theannouncement date (An Dt) is provided along with the Pricing Date (PrcDt). For issues that have been just recently announced, a pricing datemay not yet be determined. The announcement date may be the same orearlier than the pricing date.

[0106] The name of the issue may be provided as a hyperlink to a newscreen that provides full details regarding the issue, including pricetalk. Price talk refers to comments related to the price that have beenmade. The additional details may include the coupon, maturity, rating,benchmark, and bookrunner. The bookrunner is the managing underwriterfor a new issue, and maintains the book of securities sold. The newscreen can appear when the investor selects the hyperlink, e.g., byclicking on it with a mouse or the like.

[0107] Also, for the issues that have not yet been priced, a widget suchas a button may be provided to allow the investor to submit anindication of interest (IOI) to a dealer. The investor may also selectinformation such as a prospectus or roadshow (marketing pitch) regardingthe issue, or obtain details on the management group of the issue, suchas the personnel who are managing it.

[0108] For example, for the issue “Anheuser Busch”, the announcementdate (An Dt) is June 22, and the Pricing Date (Prc Dt), when the priceis set, is also June 22. The size of the issue is provided as 300,000(thousands). The state of the issue is “priced”, which means a price hasbeen set. The lead managers are BSC (Bear Stearns Corp) and CSFB (CreditSuisse First Boston).

[0109] For primary market trading of debt securities, a new issue may behandled by one dealer or a group of dealers (e.g., a syndicate). For agroup, one dealer is typically the lead co-manager. Moreover, joint leadco-managers may be provided in some cases. Senior and junior co-managersmay also be designated. Generally, when the dealer or dealers underwritea new issue, they first obtain a feel for the level of interest in theissue from investors (via the investor's IOIs) before pricing the issue.An issue with a high degree of interest may be oversubscribed, while anissue with a low degree of interest may be undersubscribed. Foroversubscribed issues, the dealers must allocate the available issuesamong the interested investors. For undersubscribed issues, there willbe issues left over. The issue is then priced accordingly at the pricingdate. Moreover, the dealers collect the IOIs prior to the pricing datein the process of book building.

[0110] The investor may click the button “IOI” next to an issue tosubmit an IOI for that issue, as well as view further details regardingthe issue (see FIG. 5). Thus, in accordance with the invention, once theissue is announced, all investors have an equal opportunity to expressan interest in purchasing it. Moreover, the issuing dealer has anopportunity to gauge the degree of interest in the issue prior to itslaunch from a large population of investors. Once the “IOI” button isselected, the interface of FIG. 5 is activated to allow the investor toview full details regarding the issue, and to enter details regardingthe IOI.

[0111] The interface 400 also provides links to a home screen, a noticesscreen, and an indications submitted screen (see FIG. 7).

[0112]FIG. 5 shows an interface 500 that provides an investor withdetails of a particular issue, and allows the investor to create anindication of interest, for a new issue. The details may include amanager section 510, including the title, lead managers, bookrunners,and senior and junior co-managers. A checkbox or circle may also beprovided to allow the investor to designate which manager is to receivethe IOI, and whether the other co-managers (i.e., all of the othermanagers, regardless of status as lead, senior or junior) are to beinformed that an IOI was sent to the selected manager. Any of themanagers listed may be designated to receive an IOI (assuming theyparticipate in the system as indicated by an asterisk). The darkenedcircle indicates the feature is selected, while an open circle indicatesthe feature is not selected. This notation will be following in otherfigures as well. The investor may click on the circle using a mouse orother pointing device to toggle the selection.

[0113] An interface section 520 allows the investor to enter informationsuch as the size (dollar amount) of the issue that he or she isinterested in purchasing. The investor may also enter the level, whichmay be market order, in which case the investor agrees to pay the marketprice that is set by the dealer, or limit spread, in which case theinvestor enters a maximum spread in terms of basis points, or enters aminimum required yield. The IOI type is also designated as being nominimum, in which case the investor agrees to buy any amount of issuesbelow the requested quantity; minimum fill, in which case the minimumamount is specified for filling an order when there are multiple trades;or all or none, in which case the full amount must be filled in onetrade, not multiple trades.

[0114] Moreover, the investor designates whether the IOI is to bere-confirmed or auto-accepted via the “Auto-Verify” checkboxes. “Yes”means the IOI is to be re-confirmed by the investor. “No” means the IOIis automatically accepted. Typically, for the investor's protection, theIOI must be reconfirmed when any information regarding the new issuechanges, such as issue size, change in managers, timing of the issue,and so forth.

[0115] A comment field is also provided to allow the investor enter anynotes that can be retrieved later. Additional information may also beaccessed via a prospectus button, an IDs (identifiers) button, and asell restrictions button.

[0116] Further details related to the issue are given in an interfacesection 530, including the Ccy/size, the coupon type, coupon frequency,first coupon date, redemption, debt ranking, maturity, announcementdate, expiration price date and time, settlement date, day count,pricing benchmark (bmk), Moody's rating, S&P rating, Fitch IBCA rating(a European credit rating agency), the minimum bid size, and the minimumdenomination. These details may be entered into the system manually bythe dealers via corresponding dealer interfaces, and/or imported from adatabase. Moreover, the dealers and investors may provide inputs andreceive outputs via their interfaces in any known manner, e.g., viakeyboard, mouse or other pointing device, voice interface, audiointerface, video screen, and so forth. Thus, references herein toactivating a function by clicking a button or the like are just exampleimplementations, as the invention is meant to encompass any knowninterface techniques.

[0117] At the bottom of the interface 500, by selecting the “submit”button, the investor may submit the IOI to the designated manager aftermaking the desired selections.

[0118] Note that the buttons at the top of the interface 500 and otherinterfaces allow the investor to navigate between the different screens.

[0119]FIG. 6 shows an interface 600 that provides a notice to aninvestor when creating an indication of interest. The notice is requiredby applicable securities regulations. If the investor accepts the terms,the IOI is sent to the designated lead managers and co-managers. Thedealers receive the IOIs from different investors over time followingthe announcement date, and determine the level of interest in the issue.A price may then be set accordingly when the issue is launched. At thattime, the dealers may begin to fill the investors orders based on theterms provided by the investors via the interface 500. If an investorselected the auto-verify function, he or she will be prompted to confirmthe IOI after the issue is launched. Once the IOI is confirmed, theorder can be filled.

[0120]FIG. 7 shows an interface that allows an investor to monitor thereal-time status of its IOIs. An activity alert pop up box 710 informsthe investor that the IOI has been allocated (i.e., an amount of theissue has been set aside by the dealer for purchase by a particularinvestor). The alert pops up some time after the IOI has been submitted,typically later in the same day, or a number of days later, depending onthe issue. This is valuable since the investor is immediately made awareof the allocation. Moreover, by clicking on the “Now” button, thedisplay 720 appears, either on the same screen or on a new screen, toprovide messages and issue details. In particular, the display 720informs the investor that an allocation of $24,000,000 has been made,which is less than the requested quantity of $38,000,000. This isacceptable since the IOI type is “no minimum” (NM). The level, paymethod and manager are also indicated as previously selected by theinvestor. Using the indicated button, the investor can cancel the IOI,or verify the allocation. Moreover, further details of the issue may beprovided, along with a history (e.g., when provided, and details)thereof by selecting the appropriate buttons in the display 720. Theinvestor may also navigate among multiple pages to view additional IOIsthat have been submitted using the previous (“prev”) and “next” buttons.

[0121]FIG. 8 shows an interface 800 that displays final pricinginformation to an investor. This information is available when a newissue has been priced, which may be hours or days after the IOI has beensubmitted. The interface indicates that the trade is ready to beaccepted and exported, e.g., to a back office/accounting function, anarchive, and/or a custodian. By clicking on the “accept” button, theinvestor's request to purchase an issue will be filled by a dealer, withtrade details that are acceptable to both parties. By clicking on the“cancel” button, the transaction is cancelled. Generally, the details ofthe final pricing interface 800 should agree with the criteria enteredwhen the IOI was created (see FIG. 5). The allocation, price, and spreadof the issue are shown in the region 810 of the interface 800.

[0122]FIG. 9 shows an interface 900 that displays an indication historyto an investor. The indication history notes, for each inquiry, whethera price has been confirmed, an allocation has been verified, anallocation is available and should be verified, an IOI has beenverified, an IOI should be reviewed and verified, or an IOI has beensubmitted. In the example shown, the IOI was initially submitted at10:30 am via the interface 500. At time 10:35, the system prompted theinvestor to review and re-verify the IOI. At time 10:40, five minuteslater, the IOI was verified. At time 13:36, an allocation was madeavailable by the dealer, and the investor asked to verify. At time13:37, the investor verified the allocation. At time 13:38, the pricewas confirmed.

[0123] FIGS. 10-18 are user interfaces for secondary market trading ofdebt securities in accordance with the present invention.

[0124]FIG. 10 shows an interface 1000 that allows an investor toselectively view an available inventory of security issues that arebeing offered or bid on by dealers in the secondary (resale) market.Advantageously, the invention increases liquidity and market efficiencyby bringing together available issues from multiple dealers for easyaccess by investors on a common platform, with trade informationprovided in a standardized, sortable manner.

[0125] Moreover, the investor may select different inventories, e.g.,from the buttons “US High Grade”, which are investment-grade USsecurities, “USD Eurobond”, which are US dollar denominated, and “EUREurobond”, which are euro-denominated. Here, “US High Grade” is selectedas indicated by the arrow (

). Additionally, the investor may view an inventory using the“inventory” button, or to conduct a trade of a selected issue in theinventory using the “trade” button.

[0126] Filters may also be selected by clicking a check box or the liketo view offers, bids, or actively-traded securities (“actives”). Here,“offers” is selected. The investor seeking to buy an issue will select“offers” to view the offer or selling terms of the dealers, while aninvestor seeking to sell an issue will select “bids” to view the bid orbuying terms of the dealers. Note that this is in contrast to theprimary issue market, where the investors are only buyers. Moreover, notthat while separate interfaces may be provided for offered and bidissues, it is possible to have a combined interface that lists bothoffered and bid issues.

[0127] The investor may enter the ticker or CUSIP designators for one ormore issues of interest to obtain further information using the “search”button. The requested inventory appears on the screen 1000 in the region1010, and the investor can select the particular issue of interest,e.g., using a pointing device or the like to click on the issue. Here,the issue “WORLDCOM INC” is selected as indicated by the arrow (

). In the region 1010, relevant information is provided for each issue,including the size (number of issues available, in thousands), therating, the issuer, the ticker, the coupon (in percent), the maturitydate, spread (the different between the bid and asked price in basispoints, where one basis point=0.01%), any special flagged note, and thebenchmark. The benchmark is usually expressed in terms of a percentageabove a U.S. Treasury note rate, where the maturity date of the note isindicated. This is typically the most recently issued Treasury securityof the given maturity, and is known as an “On-The-Run” Treasury. Itsvalue is updated daily. For WORLDCOM INC, the benchmark is UST 5.750November 5. A dealer identifier and an update field (which designateswhen the information for the issue was last updated) are also provided.A dealer identifier of *** indicates there are multiple dealers thatcannot be indicated in the current screen space. The screen may bedesigned to accommodate multiple dealer identifiers if desired.

[0128] The particular issue details may be entered manually by thedealers at their respective interfaces, and/or imported from a database.Typically, many screens of new issues are presented that the user maynavigate by paging through using the “prev” and “next” buttons. Only afew example issues are provided in the interface 1000 for clarity.Moreover, the issues may be sorted according to the various fields onthe title bar, e.g., size, rating, issuer, ticker, coupon, maturity,spread, benchmark, dealer, or update time (when details of an issue werelast updated by a dealer). This enables the investors to quickly andmethodically locate and review issues of interest, and to obtainup-to-the minute updated information for each issue.

[0129]FIG. 11 shows an interface 1100 that allows an investor to viewdetails of a selected issue. For example, the investor has selected the“WORLDCOM INC” issue. WCOM is the ticker of the issuer, and 7.550% isthe coupon. The interface provides the corresponding details of eachdealer's bids and offers, the inside market, and the freshness of theindicated price (in the “updated” field). In this example, the issue isoffered by three dealers. If a time is given, it indicates an update inthe current day. The inside market refers to the highest bid and thelowest ask prices made by a dealer for its own inventory. For example,the dealer BSC provides an offer with a size of 32,400 and a spread of215 basis points. The dealer DB provides a bid with a size of 2,000 anda spread of 230 basis points, and an offer with a size of 3,000 and aspread of 215 basis points. The dealer UBSW provides an offer with asize of 6,733 and a spread of 217 basis points. Note that spread iscorrelated with yield, so a higher spread means a higher yield. Thus, abuyer seeks out the highest spread, and the seller seeks out the lowestspread.

[0130] The inventory detail interface 1100 thus allows the investor toimmediately determine which of the multiple dealers provides the bestterms for a particular issue of interest.

[0131]FIG. 12 shows an interface 1200 that allows an investor to enteran inquiry for a selected issue. After viewing the details of theselected issue in the interface 1100, the investor may wish to enter aninquiry for the issue to buy or sell it. The interface 1200 appears whenthe investor clicks on the “trade” button on the interface 1100. Usingthe check boxes shown, the investor may select an action of requesting abid, or requesting an offer. Moreover, the investor may enter a firmprice signaling that the investor intends to trade immediately, or theinvestor may enter an “indication” only, which is “subject to” (or“price subject”) subsequent agreement on the price of the issue.Moreover, the investor may enter specific inquiry details, inquiry size,SD, inquiry type (where cash indicates a cash sale, and cross indicatesan exchange of securities), and a benchmark, which is selected from adrop down tool, as indicated by the downward arrow (z,901 ).

[0132] In the region 1210, the investor may also select which of one ormore dealers to poll (i.e., send the inquiry to). This is particularlyadvantageous since the investor may prefer to buy from specified dealerswith whom the investor has a pre-existing relationship. Moreover, theinvestor may prefer specific dealers due to previous experiences, e.g.,in successful settling. Advantageously, the invention allows an investorto choose to trade with a known dealer. In one possible implementation,the desired dealer may be selected by clicking on a button that togglesbetween YES and NO.

[0133] Moreover, the investor can obtain the best terms for a givenissue since multiple dealers are competing for the investor's trade. Inthis regard, note that the “in competition” check box may be checkedwhen the investor sends its inquiry to more than one dealer. Thecorresponding dealer interfaces (FIG. 13) inform each dealer that it isin competition with at least one other dealer, although preferably theidentity of the competition is not specified to avoid collusion.

[0134] Furthermore, the investor may set a timer (or a default timer maybe used) that indicates a time for the dealers to respond to theinvestor's firm price or indication/subject price, such as 5 minutes. Inone possible implementation, the timer provides different times using adrop down tool. An activity log captures and time stamps all details ofthe inquiry and trade process, while a status log indicates the statusof the inquiry. Here, these fields are empty since the inquiry has notyet been sent via the “submit” button.

[0135]FIG. 13 shows an interface 1300 that allows a dealer to view andrespond to an investor's inquiry. Here, the dealer sees that a firminquiry has been made (as opposed to a subject inquiry). The details ofthe issue are provided, along with an identifier of the sender (e.g.,“macary at eclientj”). The time when the offer is due is also provided(5 minutes). There is no benchmark crossing since the inquiry type iscash. An additional notes field provides information to the dealer.Moreover, a status field indicates a response is requested. If desired,the dealer responds by entering details of an offer to the inquiringinvestor, including spread, benchmark, size and time limit forresponding (e.g., three minutes), then clicking on “submit”. Otherwise,the dealer may enter a pass, signaling that it is not interested in thetrade. A timer 1310 indicates the time left for the dealer to respond tothe inquiry. Note that the example three-minute time limit set by thedealer may not begin running immediately when the offer is submitted.Instead, it may begin to run when the offer is released from the holdingbin, as discussed further below.

[0136] Each of the different dealers that were selected by the investor(via the interface 1200) view the interface 1300. The interface 1300allows each dealer to see the details such as the investor's (client's)identity and the inquiry. Additionally, any non-standard details of theinquiry may be indicated, such as a non-standard settlement date.

[0137] The activity log indicates that the investor (whose identifier is“eclientj”) has submitted an offer for 5,000,00 of the issue WCOM at acoupon of 7.550 and a maturity of Apr. 1, 2004. Optionally, theinterface 1300 may inform the dealer that it is in competition withother dealers; that is, that the inquiry was sent to at least one otherdealer. This can be enabled by the system by tracking whether anincoming inquiry from an investor has been addressed to multipledealers, and sending data for producing a corresponding message on thedealer's interface 1300.

[0138]FIG. 14 shows an interface 1400 that allows an investor to viewmultiple dealer responses to the investor's inquiry, and accept an offeror bid, or provide a counteroffer. Here, the four dealers that theinvestor selected via the interface 1200 have submitted responses to theinquiry. In particular, as shown in the region 1410, the dealers ABN,BSC and CSFB have submitted offers, while the dealer DB has submitted apass. Moreover, the best offer has been highlighted by the system. Here,ABN submitted the best offer since the spread of 192 basis points isabove the spreads of BSC and CSFB (191 and 189 basis points,respectively). The system can select the best offer by determining thebest spread, i.e., based on its magnitude. This can be achieved, e.g.,using known algorithms that determine the minimum or maximum value in anarray of numbers. The status field indicates that a response isrequested, while the activity log indicates the details of each dealer'sresponse.

[0139] In an important aspect of the invention, offers or bids frommultiple dealers to one investor are stored in a conceptual “holdingbin”, and are subsequently released to the investor at the same time.The price timer then indicates the amount of time the investor has torespond by either selecting “counter” to provide a new counteroffer (byreturning the user to the interface 1200), or “accept” to accept aspecific dealer's offer or bid. When the investor provides acounteroffer, the dealer may then submit a further offer or bid inresponse. Repeated negotiation cycles may occur in this manner.

[0140] The price timer can be different for different dealers, and maybe set by the “good for” field on the interface 1300. Here, the pricetimer has been set at three minutes for each dealer, and four secondshave passed since the concurrent release of the offers (thus, 2:56remains). Optionally, default timer amounts may be used for the “due in”and/or “good for” times. The data center 220 may be used to implementthis feature by withholding the transmission of the responses to theinvestor interfaces until the “due in” time set by the investor haselapsed. Optionally, a partial transmission is made to the investorinterface such that the presence of the offer or bid from a specificdealer may be known, but not the details, e.g., regarding size, spread,benchmark, and GF (the “good for” time, until the timer expires).

[0141] This aspect of the invention improves the uniformity of the tradeprocess by allowing an investor to consider all offers or bids together(at least for a time period equal to the smallest of the dealer-imposedtime limits). The investor is relieved from having to decide whether toaccept one offer or bid when another offer or bid may be received withinseconds or minutes.

[0142]FIG. 15 shows an interface 1500 that allows an investor to confirmthe details of a trade and to enter spot details. After the investor hasaccepted a particular dealer's offer or bid, spot negotiations mayoccur, where the investor confirms the spot vs. the investor'sbenchmark. The investor may accept or re-spot the benchmark via acounteroffer to complete the trade, by clicking on the “accept” or“counter” buttons, respectively. The dealer may impose a time limit forthe investor to respond to the dealer's spot details, e.g., one minute,while the investor may impose a time limit for the dealer to respond tothe investor's spot details. Or, the system may impose a default timelimit.

[0143] Here, the status log notes that the spot is Awaiting SpotConfirmation (ASC), and the activity log notes, at 14:10:35, that thedealer (ABN) requests a 101-200 (4.874 yield) spot on the Treasuryhaving a 6.125% rate and maturity of Aug. 31, 2002. This information ispresented to the investor in the spot negotiation region 1510 of theinterface 1500. Note that “101-200” denotes the value 101+20×{fraction(1/32)}+0×⅛×{fraction (1/32)}.

[0144]FIG. 16 shows an interface 1600 that confirms the price and spotdetails of a trade. The “status: filed” indicates the trade is done. Theprice is $99.990. As indicated by the activity log, the investor“eclientj” agreed on the final price at time 14:11:11, 36 seconds afterit was received. The trade information provided by the interface may beexported as desired, e.g., to a back office/accounting function, anarchive, and/or a custodian. An exportable audit trail shows thecompetitive bid/offer process. The activity log notes that the investorhas accepted the dealer's spot at 10:53:29, four seconds after it wasprovided.

[0145]FIG. 17 shows an interface that allows an investor to viewactively traded issues. From the inventory of available issues, the mostactively traded issues may be identified and flagged in the system,e.g., based on an operator input. For example, the active trading statusmay be based on the size of the security when it was originally issued,e.g., whether the issue exceeded one billion dollars. Other criteria mayalso be used. Moreover, the most active issues can be designated forseparate categories, such as financials, industrials, utilities,supra/sovereigns (supra-national refers to international organizationssuch as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank), or for allissues, as indicated by the check boxes in the interface 1700. Also, thenumber of most active issues can be determined as a percentage of thenumber of issues, e.g., 5%, or as a fixed number, e.g., the top fiftyissues. Furthermore, the active issues may be displayed in order oftheir relative activity, or based on other criteria, such asalphabetical by ticker or issue name, or by maturity date. Thedetermination of active issues may be adjusted periodically, such asonce a week.

[0146] Advantageously, by providing an inventory of actively tradedissues which are expected to have high liquidity, a tradeable two-waymarket is created that allows an investor to submit an order (not aninquiry) to a dealer for quick execution. This avoids the need for theinquiry and response process described previously for secondary marketissues. For example, for the issue AOL, the dealer JPM provides a bid of122, and the dealer UBSW provides an offer of 121. “(5)” denotes anorder size of five million.

[0147]FIG. 18 shows an interface that allows an investor to compare thebid and offers of different dealers for an actively traded issue, and toenter a buy order. Here, the bid and offer details, including size andspread are provided for the different dealers that offer the given issue(e.g., AOL). UBSW is highlighted since it provides the highest spread121 basis points), which is most advantageous for the investor as buyer.In the Buy Order region 1810, the investor may enter the size of theorder and indicate whether it is all or none. The investor may alsoindicate whether the trade is to be outright (cash) or a crosstransaction (exchange or securities).

[0148] By clicking on the “submit” button, the order is sent andresponded to by the dealer by accepting or rejecting it. Advantageously,unlike the inquiry process, no negotiations occur, so execution isfaster.

[0149] Accordingly, it can be seen that the present invention provides acomputer-implemented method for trading of debt securities. In oneaspect of the invention, dealers announce new debt security issues toinvestors via respective computer-generated investor interfaces in anetwork. The investor interfaces allow the respective investors tocommunicate respective indications of interest in purchasing the newdebt security issues to the dealers via respective computer-generateddealer interfaces. The dealers can allocate the debt security issues tothe investors in accordance with their respective IOIs. Moreover, theinvestors can specify which dealers receive the IOIs.

[0150] In another aspect of the invention, an inventory of issues frommultiple dealers is made available to investors on a secondary tradingmarket in a searchable format. Again, the investor can choose whichdealers to trade with for a given issue. Moreover, the investor mayplace multiple dealers in competition with one another for a trade. Inthis case, offers from the dealers are held in a holding bin andreleased to the investor concurrently to allow the investor to considerall offers together. The investors and dealers may also specify timelimits for the other party to respond. Negotiation of spot detailsbetween the dealers and investors is also enabled.

[0151] In a further aspect of the invention, the dealers post bid andoffer terms for actively traded issues that are updated in real-time toavoid the need for the inquiry procedure.

[0152] While the invention has been described and illustrated inconnection with preferred embodiments, many variations and modificationsas will be evident to those skilled in this art may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention, and the inventionis thus not to be limited to the precise details of methodology orconstruction set forth above as such variations and modification areintended to be included within the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing computer-implemented trading for debt securities, comprising: providing respective computer-generated interfaces for a plurality of dealers and a plurality of investors; wherein a network enables messages to be exchanged between the dealer interfaces and the investor interfaces; enabling the dealers to communicate announcements of new debt security issues to the investors via the investor interfaces so that each investor can access new debt security issues from multiple dealers via his or her respective investor interface; enabling the investors to submit respective indications of interest in purchasing the new debt security issues to selected ones of the dealers via the selected dealers' respective interfaces; and enabling the dealers to allocate the debt security issues to the investors in accordance with their respective indications of interest.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: the investor interfaces allow the investors to designate whether their indications of interest are subject to automatic verification.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein: the investor interfaces allow the investors to designate whether their indications of interest are subject to reconfirmation.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein: the investor interfaces allow the investors to selectively view information regarding the new debt security issues in summary and detailed formats.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein: the investor interfaces allow the investors to communicate details of their respective indications of interest to the selected dealers via the selected dealers' interfaces.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein: the details include an order size, including one of all or none, minimum fill, and no minimum.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein: the details include a level type, including at least one of market and limit spread.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein: the details include an allocation type, including at least one of retention and pot.
 9. The method of claim 5, wherein: the details include a payment method, including at least one of cash, swap with benchmark, and swap with other treasury.
 10. The method of claim 5, wherein: the details include a payment type, including at least one of risk weighted, proceeds, and par for par.
 11. The method of claim 5, wherein: the details include a settlement type, including at least one of a simultaneous settlement and a specified delayed settlement.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: enabling the dealers to set prices for the new debt security issues based on the indications of interest submitted thereto, and to inform the investors of the prices via the investor interfaces.
 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: enabling the dealers and investors to execute trades for the new debt security issues via their respective interfaces after the prices thereof are set.
 14. The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing a calendar to the investors via their respective interfaces that provides an inventory of the new debt security issues.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein: the inventory comprises identifiers, announcement dates and pricing dates for the new debt security issues.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein: the inventory comprises at least one of order sizes, coupons, maturity dates, ratings, benchmarks, and bookrunners for the new debt security issues.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein a group of the dealers are co-managers for one of the new debt security issues, further comprising: enabling the investors to submit their indications of interest to at least one selected one of the co-managers via the selected co-manager's dealer interface.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: enabling the investors to determine whether the co-managers that are not selected are informed of the submission of the respective indication of interests to the selected co-manager.
 19. The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing an audit trail for tracking activity at the dealer interfaces and the investor interfaces.
 20. The method of claim 1, further comprising: enabling the investors to enter customized searching criteria for searching the inventory via their respective interfaces.
 21. The method of claim 1, further comprising: preparing records of trade executions for the new debt security issues; and exporting the records to at least one of a back office/accounting function, an archive, and a custodian.
 22. An apparatus for providing computer-implemented trading for debt securities, comprising: computer means for generating interfaces for a plurality of dealers and a plurality of investors; wherein: a network enables messages to be exchanged between the dealer interfaces and the investor interfaces; the dealers are enabled to communicate announcements of new debt security issues to the investors via the investor interfaces so that each investor can access new debt security issues from multiple dealers via his or her respective investor interface; the investors are enabled to submit respective indications of interest in purchasing the new debt security issues to selected ones of the dealers via the selected dealers' respective interfaces; and the dealers are enabled to allocate the debt security issues to the investors in accordance with their respective indications of interest.
 23. A computer program product, comprising: a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for providing computer-implemented trading for debt securities; the computer readable program code means comprising means for executing instructions for: generating interfaces for a plurality of dealers and a plurality of investors; wherein a network enables messages to be exchanged between the dealer interfaces and the investor interfaces; enabling the dealers to communicate announcements of new debt security issues to the investors via the investor interfaces so that each investor can access new debt security issues from multiple dealers via his or her respective investor interface; enabling the investors to submit respective indications of interest in purchasing the new debt security issues to selected ones of the dealers via the selected dealers' respective interfaces; and enabling the dealers to allocate the debt security issues to the investors in accordance with their respective indications of interest. 